So the reason I missed the last two nights of Hanukkah was because a dear friend of mine, who I have not seen since our friend Mark’s wedding in London 9 years ago, was passing through the states. It’s a big deal since she lives over 8,000 miles away from me in South Africa.
Adam graciously let me bow out of our date night and offered to watch the kids. I thanks my lucky stars every day that I married such a kind and thoughtful man.
Whenever I talk to my friends from my days of living in Hong Kong, we all describe it as ‘the bubble’. It was an incredibly special time in our lives, and now that we’ve all joined the real world we can look back with awe that we were once a part of it.
It was like college, where everyone lives far away from their parents and as a result forms very tight friendships. But with money. And set in an exotic location.
Anna showed up on my doorstep one day early into my time in Hong Kong, when she began dating my roommate, Rob. We struck up a quick friendship that has lasted the test of time.
After seeing her this weekend, I looked back on some of our photo albums. Its true what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. And I had so many pictures, hopefully these few can sum up just how special our time together was.
We spent a lot of time in bikinis. On junk (boat) trips sailing around Hong Kong or at the beach after a long walk through the New Territories. Or in many exotic locations. This picture was taken at our friend Ryan & Petra’s wedding in Phuket, Thailand, at the Banyon Tree Hotel.
We went everywhere. And most of the time I could only afford the flight so I had to sleep in Rob and Anna’s hotel room once we got there. We were actually called Rob’s ‘girls’! This is a picture of a weekend trip for my birthday. Anna, Rob and my then boyfriend Arsalan flew me by helicopter to Macau.
We did a lot of dress up. This shot is from a 70s themed party we used to attend. In between Anna and I is our friend Issy who now lives in New Zealand (also about 8,000 miles away from me, but in a different direction!)
Did I mention how much dress up we did? Well, here is yet another one of many black tie events that we attended. Our friend Teena threw a lavish 40th birthday murder mystery party at the top of the China Club. Afterwards we dumped into Lan Kwai Fong and practiced our swing dancing in front of Al’s Diner. Yes, we all took group swing dancing lessons together. We were a very close group that did EVERYTHING together. Anna’s character was actually pregnant for this event and we had a blast watching her and our friend David, who was dressed as a priest, dance together.
Even though this photo is a bit blurry I love how it captures the moment. We had so many giggly moments like this!
It was really great to catch up with Anna and meet her kids, two of which I met about 10 years ago in New York and one that wasn’t born yet then. Hopefully it won’t be another 10 years before we see each other again!
Pin It
and Night 8…
As I mentioned before, I wasn’t here to set up the last night, but I had all the props ready so all Adam had to do was pull them out and set them up.
The bears are now ‘dementors’ and have been imprisoned in the castle.
The kids all had school today and while they were away, we got a visit from the Hawthorne twins.
Afterwards I ran a few errands before picking up the kids. One errand was in Chinatown and I treated myself to a bubble tea from 
We also lit Hanukkah candles and the boys opened more presents. 
Finally, after Adam put the kids to bed and all was quiet in the house, I set up the Hanukkah Bears for the 6th day of Hanukkah…
The kids decorated gingerbread houses after a morning feast of Dim Sum.
Jack and Adam were flying back from Colorado that morning so we made sure to save some candy for Jack.
We also broke out the driedel game.
While we slept that night, the Hanukkah bears had a huge silly string fight. The boys woke up to this…
It was a school day today but as soon as we arrived home it was dark so we lit the candles and opened more presents.
The Star Wars force in strong with us.
The kids enjoyed playing in this big open space even when the waves weren’t churning…
The ‘toilet bowl’ slide was also a new addition…
I’m pretty sure this fort is the same as before…
We also spent time outside of the water park. Adam splurged on arcade cards.
Jack won a golden ticket, and along with all the other Willy Wonka tickets he got, he got a whopping 2000 tickets. It was so many that he shared 500 each with each sibling.
Some of the kids tried the Adventure Ropes course. I was super proud of them all for attempting it, especially the twins! It looked scary. Afterwards, Sam and Jack went AGAIN!
Thanksgiving night we booked dinner at the special Thanksgiving buffet. The kids were super silly at dinner, except for Jack who was exhausted! 
It was really nice to drop the electronics for a few days and connect as a family. I loved watching them all interact in different ways, forming their own special bonds. I was so happy that Ben had a good visit, this time around he was brave enough to try all the slides, something he could never do in the past. And I was so pleased that Adam could finally take a few days off work, he hasn’t had a day off in over a month (including weekends!).
We started on the busiest street in our neighborhood. They block off the street and there are many houses giving out full sized candy bars. Once we got there, the older kids dispersed. They were in a competition to see who got the most full sized candy bars and they all had their own strategies, including multiple costumes.
Then, we headed back to the house for mummy dogs and chili. The parents socialized very civilly with adult drinks and conversation. The kids socialized by hyping themselves up on candy and sugary drinks and running through the house like made playing some sort of chase/tag game.
All the kids went to bed late, dirty, and crashing from sugar. I’d say it was another successful Halloween.
Then, a few days later Aunt Lara showed up.
We got home just in time for the block party (see previous blog post).
Bouncy houses…
Craft table….
Hula Hooping with the Band…
Magician Show…
Ice Cream Truck…
Face Painting…
And for the adults, we enjoyed hot dogs, hamburgers, brats, catering from Oyster Bah and Summer House Santa Monica. Five kegs and many more adult beverages were scattered along the block as well.
He arrived in time to join us for Ben’s last day of summer session, where they host an annual picnic.
He also helped me take Ben and his friend to see the troll exhibit at the Morton Arboretum. Ben spent a lot of time separated from the other kids so it was super helpful to have another adult around.
One night was had a delightful visit with Adam’s cousin, Brett, and his wife, their kids, plus one roommate and girlfriend.
Adam also scored tickets to a cubs game while Grandpa was here and they went with the older boys.
Over the weekend it was super hot and we cooled off at the water park. The kids were daredevils, the twins tried the diving board and big boy slide for the first time.
We had a trip to Chinatown for DimSum.
And Grandpa helped me bring all these kids to Maggie Daley and Millenium Park for a day.
In the morning, the older boys played tag while the younger ones enjoyed the park.
Afterwards, we joined together for a picnic lunch.
Then we headed to the fountains to splash around.
We had a lot of fun activities, but as Grandpa always says, the best parts are not the planned activities. They are the down times, when you are just hanging around. When you have time to connect freely, unforced.
Grandpa is great at that.